The Boundaries of Artificial Emotional Intelligence If our virtual assistants and emotional laborers are all turning out to be soothing, female-voiced AI, will it close certain gaps for human women? Or will it ratify them?

    Why You Should Be Eating Jellyfish to Save the Oceans Human disruption of the oceans is killing fish and leaving jellyfish to rule supreme. Could we make amends by adding them to our menus? Are you at least willing to take a bite, and try the taste?

    How to Dress for Ultimate Privacy In the age of surveillance, achieving invisibility through fashion isn’t a futuristic idea–it’s already possible.

    Batteries Not Excluded The supercomputer in your pocket and your next car rely on them–so what will we do if we run out of lithium?

    The Most Subversive Way to Travel Perhaps the humble bicycle, a transportation mode that puts people in contact with one another and gives them back that control they seem to crave, offers a unique opportunity to remake those realities for the better.

    Beats: Space Space is where we project our dreams–and our nightmares–of the future.

    The ID Question

    Who decides who you are? You, or the world around you?
    Anjali Ramachandran
    Nov 22, 2017
    A vast stack of containers on a ship

    Postcards From a Supply Chain

    A series that traces consumer goods back through the global shipping system to their source.
    Dan Williams
    Jan 21, 2015

    Disability Futures

    We can’t think about the future-of health, of technology, of community-without centering disability; it cuts across every other kind of experience. Disability is central to all of our lives.
    Kenny Fries
    Apr 30, 2019

    Beats: Space

    Space is where we project our dreams–and our nightmares–of the future.

    Beats: Food

    Food structures our day, and food systems shape our world

    Beats: Disability

    “Disable” is an active verb, and disability describes the social and environmental barriers that prevent access just as much as an individual body’s physical reality.

    Beats: Health

    Access to health care is as much a matter of public policy as it is the size of a person’s pocketbook; within a doctor’s office, many factors affect the quality of treatment.

    Is Gender Segregation in Sports Necessary?

    Examining not just the science of gender segregation in sport, but the social cost as well.
    Alice Sanders
    Jul 14, 2016 7 min read

    Making Music Hackable Again

    A musical instrument designed to be hacked and modified into something new and unexpected.
    Alice Bell
    Jun 19, 2015 2 min read

    Asteroid Mining Will Come Too Late to Save Our Planet

    We could easily expand to other worlds using asteroids for resources–if we don’t kill ourselves first.
    Claire Asher
    Aug 17, 2016 5 min read